Functional consequences of the long-term decline of reef-building corals in the Caribbean: evidence of across-reef functional convergence
Nuria Estrada-Saldívar,Eric Jordán-Dalhgren,Rosa E. Rodríguez-Martínez,Chris T. Perry,Lorenzo Alvarez-Filip +4 more
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TLDR
How coral communities have changed in the northern sector of the Mexican Caribbean between 1985 and 2016 is evaluated, and the implications for the maintenance of physical reef functions in the back- and fore-reef zones are evaluated.Abstract:
Functional integrity on coral reefs is strongly dependent upon coral cover and coral carbonate production rate being sufficient to maintain three-dimensional reef structures. Increasing environmental and anthropogenic pressures in recent decades have reduced the cover of key reef-building species, producing a shift towards the relative dominance of more stress-tolerant taxa and leading to a reduction in the physical functional integrity. Understanding how changes in coral community composition influence the potential of reefs to maintain their physical reef functioning is a priority for their conservation and management. Here, we evaluate how coral communities have changed in the northern sector of the Mexican Caribbean between 1985 and 2016, and the implications for the maintenance of physical reef functions in the back- and fore-reef zones. We used the cover of coral species to explore changes in four morpho-functional groups, coral community composition, coral community calcification, the reef functional index and the reef carbonate budget. Over a period of 31 years, ecological homogenization occurred between the two reef zones mostly due to a reduction in the cover of framework-building branching (Acropora spp.) and foliose-digitiform (Porites porites and Agaricia tenuifolia) coral species in the back-reef, and a relative increase in non-framework species in the fore-reef (Agaricia agaricites and Porites astreoides). This resulted in a significant decrease in the physical functionality of the back-reef zone. At present, both reef zones have negative carbonate budgets, and thus limited capacity to sustain reef accretion, compromising the existing reef structure and its future capacity to provide habitat and environmental services.read more
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Loss of coral reef growth capacity to track future increases in sea level
Chris T. Perry,Lorenzo Alvarez-Filip,Nicholas A. J. Graham,Peter J. Mumby,Shaun K. Wilson,Paul S. Kench,Derek P. Manzello,Kyle M. Morgan,Aimée B. A. Slangen,Damian P. Thomson,Fraser A. Januchowski-Hartley,Scott G. Smithers,Robert S. Steneck,Renée Carlton,Evan N. Edinger,Ian C. Enochs,Ian C. Enochs,Nuria Estrada-Saldívar,Michael D. E. Haywood,Graham Kolodziej,Graham Kolodziej,Gary N. Murphy,Esmeralda Pérez-Cervantes,Adam Suchley,Lauren Valentino,Lauren Valentino,Robert Boenish,Margaret Wilson,Chancey MacDonald +28 more
TL;DR: The vertical growth potential of more than 200 tropical western Atlantic and Indian Ocean reefs is calculated and compared against recent and projected rates of SLR under different Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) scenarios to show that few reefs will have the capacity to track sea-level rise projections under Representative concentration pathway scenarios without sustained ecological recovery.
Journal ArticleDOI
Massive Influx of Pelagic Sargassum spp. on the Coasts of the Mexican Caribbean 2014–2020: Challenges and Opportunities
Valeria Chávez,Abigail Uribe-Martínez,Eduardo Cuevas,Rosa E. Rodríguez-Martínez,Brigitta I. van Tussenbroek,Vanessa Francisco,Miriam Estevez,Lourdes B. Celis,L. Verónica Monroy-Velázquez,Rosa Leal-Bautista,Lorenzo Alvarez-Filip,Marta García-Sánchez,Luis Masia,Rodolfo Silva +13 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used Landsat 8 imagery (from 2016 to mid-2020) to record the coverage of sargasso in the sea off the Mexican Caribbean coastline, with a maximum reported in September 2018.
Journal ArticleDOI
Impacts of nitrogen pollution on corals in the context of global climate change and potential strategies to conserve coral reefs
Hongwei Zhao,Hongwei Zhao,Meile Yuan,Meile Yuan,Maryna Strokal,Henry C. Wu,Xianhua Liu,Alber Tinka Murk,Carolien Kroeze,Ronald Osinga +9 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors reviewed the mechanisms by which nitrogen pollution affects coral health and corresponding strategies to reduce the impact of nitrogen pollution in coral reef ecosystems and found that different coral species possess varying tolerance thresholds for nitrogen enrichment and showed differential responses to enrichment with nitrate and ammonium.
Journal ArticleDOI
Reef-scale impacts of the stony coral tissue loss disease outbreak
Nuria Estrada-Saldívar,Ana Molina-Hernández,Esmeralda Pérez-Cervantes,Francisco Medellín-Maldonado,F. Javier González-Barrios,Lorenzo Alvarez-Filip +5 more
TL;DR: In this paper, surveys were made to assess the impacts of this new outbreak in the stony coral community in terms of composition and the effect on the coral community calcification, which resulted in significant changes in coral community composition and reductions in the gross carbonate production.
Journal ArticleDOI
Coral reef diversity losses in China's Greater Bay Area were driven by regional stressors.
Jonathan D. Cybulski,Stefan M. Husa,Stefan M. Husa,Nicolas N. Duprey,Nicolas N. Duprey,Briony Mamo,Briony Mamo,Toby P. N. Tsang,Moriaki Yasuhara,Moriaki Yasuhara,James Xie,Jian-Wen Qiu,Yusuke Yokoyama,David M. Baker +13 more
TL;DR: Poor water quality driven by increased nutrients is the main cause of coral diversity loss in southern China’s Greater Bay Area and a 40% decrease in generic diversity is revealed, concomitant to a shift from competitive to stress-tolerant species dominance since the mid-Holocene.
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Journal ArticleDOI
Long-Term Region-Wide Declines in Caribbean Corals
Toby A. Gardner,Toby A. Gardner,Isabelle M. Côté,Jennifer A. Gill,Jennifer A. Gill,Alastair Grant,Andrew R. Watkinson,Andrew R. Watkinson +7 more
TL;DR: Although the rate of coral loss has slowed in the past decade compared to the 1980s, significant declines are persisting and the ability of Caribbean coral reefs to cope with future local and global environmental change may be irretrievably compromised.